1 


BANCROFT 

LIBRARY 
«• 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


(  go  M  (0 


DEFENSE  OP  THE  UNION. 


Speech  of  Hon.  I.  S.  Latham, 

OF    CALIFORNIA, 
In  the  Senate,  July  2Qth,   1861. 


The  Senate  having  under  consideration  the  joint  resolution  (S.  No.  I)  to  approve 
and  confirm  certain  acts  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  for  suppressing  insur- 
rection and  rebellion — 

Mr.  LATHAM  said  :  Mr.  President,  when  I  took  my  seat  at  the 
opening  of  this  session  of  Congress,  I  was  perfectly  content  to  perform 
my  duty  by  merely  easting  my  vote  on  the  several  bills  which  might 
be  presented.  Whatever  might  be  the  consequences  of  my  acts,  or  the 
responsibility  assumed,  it  was  a  question  between  rny  constituents  and 
myself,  and  I  hold  myself  amenable  to  them.  There  is,  however,  such 
a  marked  discrepancy,  not  only  in  the  recorded  votes,  but  in  many  of 
the  sentiments  uttered  by  those  gentlemen  with  whom  I  have  always 
been  in  political  affiliation,  that  it  may  be  proper  to  make  known  to 
this  body,  as  well  as  to  the  country,  the  reasons  for  this  difference. 

It  is  the  painful  duty  of  many  gentlemen  on  this  floor,  in  the  present 
trying  crisis,  to  differ  with  those  with  whom  their  political  relations 
have  been  of  the  most  cordial  character ;  and  even  those  whom  we 
have  recognized  as  party  leaders. 

Mr.  President,  I  listened  on  Wednesday,  with  marked  pleasure,  to  the 
eloquence  of  my  friend  from  Kentucky,  [Mr.  BKECKINRIDGP:,]  whom  I 
have  always  delighted  to  support  and  honor.  I  listened  also  yesterday 
to  the  legal  argument  made  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Delaware, 
[Mr.  BAYARD.]  With  many  of  the  sentiments  uttered  by  both  of  these 
gentlemen,  I  cordially  agree.  But,  sir,  I  was  pained,  after  they  had 
taken  their  seats,  that  I  had  not  heard  from  the  lips  of  either,  one  sin- 
gle word  of  denunciation  of  the  breaches,  infractions  and  outrages 
committed  upon  the  Constitution  of  our  country  by  those  States  array- 
ing themselves  in  hostility  to  it.  Gentlemen  can  find  almost  infinites- 
imal ilaws  on  the  part  of  the  constituted  authorities  of  the  Government, 
but  •Qot.one  single  word  in  condemnation  of  those  who  are  boldly  tram- 
pling under  foot  the  Constitution  of  the  country  itself.  It  may  well  be 
quoted :  "  Why  beholdest  thou  the  mote  in  thy  brother's  eye,  but  con- 
si  derest  not  the  beam  that  is  in  thine  own  eye  ?" 

So  far  as  the  acts  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  which  are  to 
be  indorsed  by  this  joint  resolution  are  concerned,  the  Seriate  is  proba- 


bly  conversant  with  the  view  which  I  took  on  a  former  occasion  in 
regard  to  them.  I  hold  the  line  of  demarkation  in  indorsing  the  con- 
duct of  the  Executive  to  be  this :  whatever  imperious  necessity  re- 
quired him  to  do  to  support  the  Government,  to  enforce  the  laws",  and 
secure  obedience  to  the  constituted  authorities,  it  was  right  and  proper 
he  should  do,  even  though  in  doing  he  may  have  committed  a  technical 
infraction  of  the  authority  delegated  to  him.  Wherever  there  was  not 
that  imperious  necessity,  I  do  not  justify  him.  So  far  as  the  violation 
of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in  the  State  of  Maryland  was  concerned,  I 
refuse  to  give  him  my  sanction  for  that  act.  I  refuse  it  because  that 
State  has  shown,  by  the  return  of  her  delegates  to  the  other  House,  her 
allegiance  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States  ;  and  though  there 
may  be  many  citizens  in  her  midst  who  sympathize  with  the  disloyal 
spirit  of  the  southern  States:  though  there  may  have  been  disgraceful 
mobs  and  riots  in  the  city  of  Baltimore:  unless  there  was  clear  evi- 
dence that  the  judiciary  of  that  State  was  tainted  with  that  disloyalty, 
and  were  unwilling  to  do  their  duty,  under  the  Constitution,  in  acting 
upon  these  writs  of  habeas  corpus,  1  would  jiot  justify  any  officer  in  the 
suspension  of  that  sacred  privilege.  No  Senator  for  one  moment  doubts 
the  loyalty  of  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States,  who  issued  the 
writ ;  or,  if  he  does,  he  has  never  made  it  known  upon  this  floor.  His 
character  is  pure,  spotless  and  untainted  :  his  life  has  been  one  of  devo- 
tion to  his  country  and  the  enforcement  of  its  laws ;  and  now,  in  his 
honored  old  age,  he  could  scarcely  stigmatize  a  long  list  of  years  of 
service  by  refusing  to  obey  those  laws  and  those  principles  of  justice 
which  he  has  sworn  to  carry  out.  Hence  I  regard  the  act  of  the  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States  in  suspending  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  as 
this:  joint  resolution  says,  "  between  the  city  of  Philadelphia  and  the 
city  of  Washington,"  as  an  unnecessary  violation  of  the  powers  pos- 
sessed by  him  under  the  Constitution;  end,  as  a  conscientious  guardian 
of  the  liberties  of  the  people,  I  refuse  him  my  indorsement  for  that  act. 
So,  too,  as  to  the  increase  of  the  regular  standing  .army  of  the  coun- 
try. The  purposes  for  which  he  was  striving  could  have  been  as  easily 
accomplished  by  the  volunteer  force  of  the  country,  and  therefore  the 
exercise  of  power  in  increasing  the  regular  standing  army  was  not 
"warranted  by  the  exigencies.  I  decline,  therefore,  my  indorsement  for 
this  act  also.  But,  sir,  as  to  the  other  acts  of  the  Government— order- 
ing the  blockade  ;  calling  out  of  the  volunteers  of  the  country  ;  suspen- 
sion of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in  Florida,  it  being  in  open  rebellion 
to  your  Government ;  and  all  the  other  acts  enumerated  in  this  joint 
resolution — he  has  my  hearty  approval ;  and  I  now  say,  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  a  sovereign  State  and  a  loyal  people,  that  if  he  had  not 
exercised  those  powers,  I  would  have  voted  to  impeach  him  as  unwor- 
thy the  place  he  occupies,  and  most  derelict  in  his  duties  to  the  Gov- 
ernment. Seeing  a  settled  determination  on  the  part  of  those  States 
in  rebellion  to  march  upon  and  destroy  your  capital — as  was  announced 
by  the  Secretary  of  War  of  the  Southern  Confederacy — to  wipe  from 
the  map  the  country  of  the  United  States,  if  he  had  not  resorted  to 
every  power  and  every  means  within  his  control  to  sustain  that  Gov- 
ernment he  would  have  deserved  the  execration  and  scorn  of  all  living 
as  well  as  of  posterity. 


3 

The  golden  maxim  is,  "  Do  unto  others  even  as  you  would  they 
should  do  unto  you."  Mr.  Lincoln  being  the  constitutionally  elected 
President  of  the  United  States,  the  people,  through  the  medium  pre- 
scribed by  the  Constitution,  had  declared  that  he  was  vested  with  the 
authority  of  government,  which  he  is  now  exercising.  When  the  re- 
sult of  that  election  was  known,  in  November,  as  a  citizen,  and  as  I 
esteemed  every  good  citizen  should,  I  gave  my  acquiescence  to  the 
voice  of  the  people,  and  considered  him  entitled  to  the  support  of  all 
good  citizens  in  the  administration  of  that  Government ;  taking  it  for 
granted  that  if  any  had  cause  of  complaint  against  his  political  tenets, 
that  same  Constitution  pointed  out  the  method  of  their  remedy. 

Now,  sir,  bringing  this  home  to  myself,  I  gave  my  support  cheer- 
fully and  willingly  to  my  honorable  friend  from  Kentucky.  Anxious 
to  see  him  elevated  to  tl>e  position  now  occupied  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  what- 
ever I  could  do  in  my  humble  ability  to  secure  that  end,  satisfied  that 
he  stood  on  a  platform  that  was  right  and  proper,  according  to  my 
honest  convictions,  was  done,  and  done  faithfully.  Had  he  been 
elected  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States,  and  the  New  England 
States,  led  by  Massachusetts,  had  pursued  the  course  of  these  southern 
States  ;  if  they  had  said,  "  we  are  unwilling  to  belong  to  a  Government 
which  proposes  to  protect  the  institution  of  slavery,  or  recognizes  it  in 
any  capacity ;  we  are  tired  of  what  these  gentlemen  call  the  copartner- 
ship, the  compact ;  we  wish  to  break  it  up  and  erect  a  Government  of 
our  own ;"  if  they  had  seized  upon  the  forts  and  arsenals  and  other 
public  property  of  the  whole  country — had  arrayed  themselves  in  hos- 
tility to  the  Government,  and  erected  an  alien  one  within  our  own,  I 
believe  he  and  I  know  /  should  have  felt  it  my  bounden  duty  to  use 
all  the  powers  possessed  to  see  to  it  that  the  laws  were  there  enforced,  . 
the  public  property  retaken,  and  the  dignity  and  honor  of  your  Gov- 
ernment sustained.  The  rule  is  not  changed  because  my  party  and 
friend  did  not  happen  to  be  the  successful  one.  -rV> 

Mr.  President,  a  great  deal  has  been  said  throughout  the  whole  of 
this  contest,  against  the  power  of  your  Government  to  enforce  its  laws 
by  the  use  of  the  strong  arm ;  a  great  deal  about  its  being  in  contra- 
vention of  the  spirit  of  the  fathers  of  the  Kepublic  to  seek  to  coerce 
these  States  into  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  country,  and  to  force  the 
restoration  of  the  public  property  which  they  have  seized-.  Last  winter, 
in  company  with  many  of  my  political  associates,  I  also  openly  advoca- 
ted the  doctrine  as  a  question  of  policy,  that  this  Government  should 
not  attempt  coercion  against  these  States;  that  it  was  better  to  wait  for 
reason  and  judgment  to  reassert  their  sway,  rather  than  use  the  power 
which  I  never  once  denied,  was  really  possessed,  of  asserting  its  authority 
by  the  strong  military  arm.  Further,  it  was  the  settle  1,  fixed  policy 
of  your  Go vernment,  up  to  a  certain  period,  to  pursue  th  is  course,  until 
it  was  definitely  ascertained  that  it  would  only  result  in  what  we  were 
trying,  with  all  our  ability  and  might,  to  prevent. 

After  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  on  the  6th  day  of  November  last, 
South  Carolina's  Senators  never  appeared  upon  this  floor.  Her.  conven- 
tion met  on  the  17th  of  that  month,  and  on  the  20th — long  before  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  to  be  inaugurated,  long  anterior  to  the  time  when  this 
party,  to  whose  principles  they  were  so  much  opposed,  was  to  be  vested 


with  the  power  of  your  Government — declared  that  they  no  longer 
owed  allegiance  to  the  United  States.  They  seized  at  once  upon  the 
arsenal  in  the  city  of  Charleston,  and  Forts  Moultrie  and  Pinckney  were 
taken  possession  of.  Did  the  Government  of  the  United  States  attempt 
to  retake  this  property,  to  reassert  its  title  over  these  respective  fbrt»s 
and  this  arsenal  which  had  been  thus  unlawfully,  illegally,  and  uncon- 
stitutionally seized  upon?  South  Carolina  by  that  act  had  done  what 
the  world  in  arms  could  not  have  done  with  impunity.  The  Govern- 
ment quietly  and  tacitly  submitted  to  it,  trusting  to  the  restoration  of 
•cooler  judgment  to  these  excited  and  misguided  people. 

This  very  act  of  unwillingness  to  exercise  the  strong  power  of  the 
Government  against  South  Carolina,  in  the  assertion  of  her  right  to 
property  thus  unlawfully  seized,  was  but  the  signal  for  all  of  those 
States  which  have  since  followed  her  footsteps,  one  after  tl^e  other,  to 
pursue  the  same  line  of  conduct.  In.  Georgia  your  forts  were  seized 
upon ;  in  Alabama  the  same  thing ;  in  Louisiana  your  arsenal  at  Baton 
Eouge,  your  mint  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  and  whatever  other 
property  lay  within  their  territory ;  and  no  act  on  the  part  of  your 
Government  was  attempted  to  protect  or  defend  this  property.  In 
Texas — where  you  had  troops,  troops  who  had  seen  service,  men  who 
had  gallantly  defended  the  flag  of  our  country  in  many  a  hard  fought 
battle  upon  the  plains  of  Mexico  ;  when  the  Texans  demanded  a  sur- 
render of  the  forts  held  by  them,  rather  than  precipitate  the  country  into 
civil  war,  quietly  folded  the  flag  of  their  country  about  its  staff)  leav- 
ing the  State  to  their  complete  possession — an  agreement  made  by  the 
officers  that  they  should  be  allowed  to  depart  in  peace  was  openly  violated, 
.  and  the  troops  are  now  held  as  prisoners.  State  after  State  passed  laws 
preventing  northern  creditors  from  collecting  their  debts  within  their 
limits,  thus  repudiating  millions  of  dollars  clue  people  of  the  North, 
adding  thereby  State  injustice  and  dishonor  to  their  national  turpitude. 

I  need  not  continue  the  enumeration  of  these  acts  of  aggression 
commuted  by  these  southern  States,  for  they  are  familiar  to  all  here, 
as  well  as  to  the  country.  They  are  only  alluded  to  now  for  the  pur- 
pose of  showing  that  it  was  the  settled,  fixed  policy  of  your  Govern- 
ment— a  false  policy  as  it  was,  and  as  it  turned  out — in  allowing  these 
first  acts  with  impunity.  It  failed,  utterly  failed,  to  convince  these 
people  that  they  were  not  only  committing  outrages,  but  violating  the 
Constitution  of  the  country. 

When  Congress  adjourned  in  the  month  of  March  last,  it  was  the 
belief,  at  separation,  that  between  the  time  of  our  adjournment  and 
the  regular  meeting  in  the  month  of  December,  there  would  be  a  res- 
toration to  good  sense,  and  that,  in  a  spirit  of  compromise,  they  would 
come  forward  to  settle  the  disturbances  by  which  the  country  was  agi- 
tated. Such,  however,  has  not  been  the  case.  Magnanimity  was  con- 
strued into  pusillanimity,  and  forbearance  shown,  into  conclusive  evi- 
dence to  their  minds  that  the  Government  was  too  weak,  too  cowardly 
or  supine,  to  assert  its  power  or  dignity.  A  fort  in  the  harbor  of 
Charleston,  in  the  possession  of  a  handful  of  soldiers,  commanded  by 
a  brave  officer,  was  beheld  by  this  Government  and  the  civilized  world 
day  after  day,  and  week  after  week,  to  be  girdled  and  hemmed  in  by 
fortifications  totally  impregnable  in  their  character.  Its  commander 


on  the  one  hand  menaced  and  really  besieged  by  the  dire  necessity  of 
hunger ;  they,  on  their  side,  anxious  to  enlist  in  the  common  cause  the 
wavering  border  States,  an  assault  was  commenced  with  the  very  guns 
of  the  nation  upon  the  already  conquered  fort.  Not  content,  as  the 
Senator  from  Texas  (Mr.  Wigfall)  said  upon  this  floor,  with  "slapping 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  in  the  face" — alluding  to  the  fir- 
ing upon  the  Star  of  the  "West — they  found  it  necessary  for  their  pur- 
poses to  trample  the  flag  of  our  country  under  their  feet  in  humiliation 
and  disgrace.  Then  it  was  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  at 
once  responded  as  one  man :  "  We  will  assert  the  dignity  of  our  Gov- 
ernment, and  show  to  the  civilized  world  that  we  belong,  as  we  have 
been  classified,  among  the  first  powers  of  the  universe." 

Mr.  President,  this  is  not  a  war  of  the  Kepublican  party  against 
the  southern  States.  The  fact  that  it  has  the  cordial  support  of  one 
million  of  the  people  of  the  North,  who  cast  their  votes  for  the  Dem- 
ocratic nominees,  negatives  any  such  idea.  Men  who  have  been  class- 
ified as  leaders  of  the  Democratic  party  are  among  your  volunteers ; 
yea,  sir,'  the  majority  of  those  in  command,  as  well  as  of  the  volun- 
teers themselves,  so  far  as  my  information  extends,  have  always  been, 
and  are  now,  the  supporters  ©f  the  principles  of  the.  Democratic  party. 
In  my  own  native  State,  Ohio,  sixteen  out  of  twenty-three  colonels 
are  Democrats,  and  the  rank  and  file  are  of  greater  proportion.  Many 
of  the  ablest  advocates  of  the  Democratic  party  are  in  command ;  and 
the  chairman  of  the  national  committee  of  the  party  of  which  my 
friend  from  Kentucky  was  the  nominee,  tenders  his  services,  from  the 
far-off  shores  of  the  Pacific,  to  the  Government  in  any  capacity.  The 
issue  is  simply  whether  you  will  have  a  Government  at  all ;  and  not 
by  what  political  principles  it  is  to  be  kept  in  existence  after  its  vital- 
ity is  restored.  It  is  nc$  whether  this  party  or  that  party  shall  be 
dominant  in  your  country ;  but  whether  you  will  maintain  the  position 
which,  as  a  Government,  you  have  heretofore  occupied  in  the  eyes  of 
the  civilized  world. 

The  honorable  Senator  from  Indiana,  [Mr.  BRIGHT,]  in  his  classifi- 
cation of  the  shades  of  opinion  upon  this  floor,  alleged  that  there  were 
three.  Sir,  there  are  four  opinions  represented  here.  There  is  the 
opinions  of  those  who  occupy  the  other  side  of  the  Chamber.  A  ma- 
jority of  their  number,  I  believe,  prosecute  this  war  merely  for  the 
purpose  of  sustaining  and  upholding  the  constituted  authorities  of  the 
Government  in  all  constitutional  efforts  to  carry  out  its  great  objects. 
There  is  a  portion  of  that  party  who  seek  to  make  this  the  occasion  to 
raise  a  hue  and  cry  against  the  institution  of  slavery ;  and,  under  the 
plea  of  serving  the  Union  and  the  Constitution,  to  destroy  the  rights 
of  the  southern  people,  in  their  slave  property.  Upon  this  side  of  the 
Chamber  there  are  those  belonging  to  the  Democratic  party  who  can 
find  no  condemnation  for  the  acts  of  these  southern  States ;  who  with- 
hold their  support  from  the  Government  of  the  United  States  in  sus- 
taining itself  in  this  great  controversy ;  who  have  in  their  minds  a 
settled  determination  to  let  these  States  do  as  they  please,  even  to  dis- 
memberment and  separation.  There  are  still  others  on  this  side  of  the 
phamber,  myself  among  that  number,  who  have  never  changed  one 
ot  or  title  of  our  opinion  as  to  the  institution  of  slavery  itself,  and  the 
•*-*  »"<r  ••  wt  ""urn  'uwo  'Hvfjj  ,ai  •?9Jr.t#tn  amJ  £$|fif 


6 

duties  of  the  Government  in  its  protection  as  a  property  right ;  who 
believe  it  their  bounden  duty  to  give  both  voice  and  vote  to  sustain 
the  constituted  authorities  by  all  constitutional  means. 

I  allege  that,  so  far  as  my  observation  has  gone,  the  purposes,  the 
only  purposes  in  the  carrying  out,  if  not  the  inauguration  of  this  war, 
are  those  which  the  majority  of  this  body  have,  by  their  votes,  unmis- 
takably indicated — not  to  deprive  the  people  of  the  South  of  their 
property ;  not  to  wage  a  crusade  against  the  institution  of  slavery ; 
not,  under  the  banner  of  the  Union,  to  seek  to  deprive  these  men  of 
their  property;  but,  as  a  Democratic  general  from  Massachusetts, 
said,  it  is  by  the  strong  arm  of  the  Government  "to  enforce  law  among 
both  the  black  and  the  white  population  in  the  States  now  in  rebellion 
against  your  Government." 

Sir,  I  saw  the  other  day  a  resolution  which,  according  to  my  idea, 
comes  up  to  the  whole  spirit  of  this  contest,  adopted  by  the  State  of 
New  Hampshire  by  an  almost  unanimous  vote : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  contest  now  existing  between  the  Government  and  the  disloyal 
States  that  have  commenced  an  unjustifiable  anxUreasonable  war  upon  its  constitutional 
authority,  should  be  regarded  by  all  loyal  men,  not  as  a  sectional  war,  not  an  anti-sla- 
very war,  nor  a  war  of  conquest  and  subjugation,  but  "simply  and  solely  a  war  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  Government,  the  suppression  of  rebellion,  and  the  preservation  Of 
the  Magna  Charta  of  our  liberty  and  national  unity." 

The  convention  of  so-styled  Breckinridge  Democrats  of  my  own 
State,  held  in  June  last,  had  also  a  resolution  offered  in  a  minority  re- 
port, which  read  as  follows : 

"Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  every  Administration  to  uphold  the  Federal  Consti- 
tution, maintain  the  integrity  of  the  Union,  and,  at  all  hazards,  enforce  the  the  laws  in 
every  section  thereof;  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  citizen,  in  these  [times  of  im- 
pending] danger  to  popular  government,  to  stand  loyally  and  firmly  by  the  Constitu- 
tion and  laws  of  his  country." 

These  resolutions  announce  the  doctrine  to  which  I  give  my  sup- 
port. Whenever  it  is  discovered  that  the  purpose  of  this  war  is  not 
to  assert  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  resolutions  I  have  just  read, 
but  that,  under  the  hue  and  cry  of  loyalty  to  the  United  States,  war- 
fare is  waged  against  the  institution  of  slavery,  to  deprive  the  people 
of  the  southern  States  of  the  exercise  of  their  property  rights,  I  shall 
raise  my  voice,  and  by  my  vote  put  the  seal  of  my  condemnation  on 
any  such  purpose.  This  I  am  confident  is  the  wish  of  my  constitu- 
ency, and  I  am  proud  of  it.  They  want  no  such  purpose.  They  are 
unwilling,  as  every  man  who  respects  humanity  and  country  should  be, 
to  see  $1,603,758,656  of  property  lost  to  southern  citizens,  and  four 
million  slaves  turned  loose  upon  the  land,  hopeless,  houseless,  wander- 
ing mendicants.  I  say  still  more  emphatically,  that  whenever  it  ap- 
pears that  it  is  the  settled  policy  of  the  constituted  authorities  of  the 
land,  not  to  take  "  possession  of  the  public  property,"  not  to  "  enforce 
the  laws,"  not  to  "  collect  your  revenues,"  not  to  give  protection  to  the 
people  of  the  Senator  from  Virginia,  [Mr.  CAELILE,]  and  all  other 
States,  in  the  exercise  of  their  inestimable  privileges  under  the  Consti- 
tution ;  but  is  to  destroy  their  property  and  liberate  their  slaves,  this 
Government,  belonging  essentially  to  the  "  sovereign  people,"  who  have 
taken  this  matter  in  their  own  hands,  and  under  their  own  control,  will 


be  just  as  rqady,  and  as  willing,  to  lay  down  their  lives  against  such 
outrageous  infraction  and  violation  of  that  sacred  instrument,  as  they 
are  now  to  support  the  Government  in  exercising  every  function  within 
its  constitutional  sphere. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  said,  that  in  common  with  several  gentlemen' 
upon  this  floor,  who  have  always  been  ardent  advocates  of  the  princi- 
ples of  the  Democratic  party,  and  who  have  not  changed  their  views,, 
we  do  condemn  every  single  act  of  these  southern  States,  in  arraying 
themselves  in  hostility  to.  your  Government.  I  assert  further,  that 
when  the  truthful  pen  of  history  comes  to  record  all  of  the  events  so 
rapidly  occurring  in-  our  midst,  it  will  inscribe  that  no  revolution,  no 
act  of  rebellion,  was  ever  so  unjustifiable,  so  inexcusable,  so  unwar- 
rantable. 

Has  any  legal  wrong  been  done  to  these  States  ?  Can  any  gentle- 
man who  advocates  their  cause  point  to  a  law  upon  your  statute-book 
showing  that  any  outrage  has  been  committed  upon  them  or  upon  their 
rights?  Not  onjg,  sir.  Was  there  anything  in  the  mere  election  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  to  the  Presidency  which  should  have  caused  them  to  throw 
off  their  allegiance  and  array  themselves  in  hostility  to  your  Govern- 
ment ?  Nothing ;  nothing  whatever.  Was  it  because  he  was  a  sec- 
tional President  ?  We  had  a  sectional  President  and  Vice  President 
as  far  back  as  1828,  when  Mr.  Jackson  and  Mr.  Calhoun  filled  the 
respective  positions  of  President  and  Yice  President.  Was  it  because 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  had  failed  to  do  justice  to  them? 
Not  so,  sir.  They  were,  when  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected  President,  if 
they  had  held  their  seats  in  this  body  and  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, in  just  as  complete  and  full  possession  of  your  Government  as 
they  ever  were.  By  the  returns  of  the  elections  already  held  during 
the  past  year,  they  would  have  had  over  twenty  majority  in  the  present 
House  of  Representatives,  and  a  majority  ot  four  upon  this  floor.  Their 
fifteen  States  gave  them  thirty  Senators.  There  was  a  democratic  Sen- 
ator here  from  Oregon,  two  from  California,  one  from  Indiana,  one  from 
Minnesota,  one  from  Illinois,  and  one  from  New  Jersey ;  making 
thirty-seven.  That  gave  them  a  majority,  as  against  the  dominant 
party  of  the  country,  of  six.  The  death  of  Mr.  Douglas  reduced  the 
majority  to  four.  There  was  a  working  majority  in  this  body  of  four 
in  antagonism  to  the  principles  of  the  party  whose  elevation  to  power 
they  complained  of,  and  a  majority  of  over  twenty  in  the  House  of 
Representatives.  They  held  the  control  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States  so  far  that  he  could  not  have  a  cabinet  officer ,  a  minister,  nay, 
sir,  not  a  single  appropriation,  without  their  sanction  and  consent. 
More  than  this ;  in  this  particular  body— and  I  do  not  speak  of  it  com- 
plainingly,  because  I  respect  the  men  who  occupied  the  several  posi- 
tions here — they  had  the  supreme  and  absolute  control  of  all  your  com- 
mittees. Every  important  committee  (a  majority  of  the  Senate  select- 
ing them)  was  in  the  hands  of  a  chairman  representing  these  States 
now  in  rebellion,  and  they  could  have  moulded  and  controlled  youi; 
policy  just  as  completely  as  at  any  former  period. 

Now,  sir,  what  is  the  fact  in  regard  to  the  committees  ?  Virginia 
had  the  chairmanship  of  the  Committee. on  foreign  Delations,  whicli 
was  held  by  Mr.  Mason.  The  chairmanship  of  the  Committee  on  MiU 


8 

itary  Affairs  was  held  by  Mr.  Davis ;  on  Finance,  Mr.  Hunter,  of  Vir- 
ginia ;  on  Naval  Affairs,  Mr.  Mallory,  of  Florida ;  on  Commerce,  Mr. 
Clay,  of  Alabama ;  on  the  Judiciary,  Mr.  BAYAKD,  of  Delaware  ;  on 
Post  Offices  and  Post  Roads,  Mr.  Yulee,  of  Florida.  The  little  State 
of  Florida,  which  has  not  as  many  votes  as  one  of  the  counties  of  the 
State  that  I  represent,  had  the  chairmanship  of  two  of  the  most  impor- 
tant committees  in  this  body,  and  every  Senator  here  knows  how  much 
influence  the  chairman  of  these  respective  committees  have  in  control- 
ling the  legislation  and  action  of  your  Government.  Mr.  CRITTENDEN 
was  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Revolutionary  Claims  ;  Mr.  John- 
son, of  Arkansas,  of  the  Committee  on  Public  Lands  ;  Mr.  Iverson,  of 
Georgia,  of  the  Committee  on  Claims ;  Mr.  Benjamin,  of  Louisiana,  of 
the  Committee  on  Private  Land  Claims  ;  Mr.  Brown,  of  Mississippi,  of 
the  Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia ;  Mr.  Sebastian,  of  Arkan- 
sas, of  the  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs  ;  Mr.  Green,  of  Missouri,  of 
the  Committee  on  Territories  ;  Mr.  JOHNSON,  of  Tennessee,  of  the  Com- 
mittee to  Audit  and  Control  the  Contingent  Expenses  of  the  Senate  ; 
Mr.  SAULSBURY,  of  Delaware,  of  the  Committee  on  Enrolled  Bills  ;  and 
Mr.  PEARCE,  of  Maryland,  of  the  Committee  on  the  Library.  The 
only  positions  allowed  to  gentlemen  on  this  floor  representing  the 
northern  Democracy,  or  northern  constituency,  consisted  of  Mr.  THOM- 
SON", of  New  Jersey,  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Pensions ;  Mr. 
Bigler,  of  Pennsylvania,  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Patents  and 
the  Patent  Office;  Mr.  BRIGHT,  of  Indiana,  as  chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Public  Buildings  and  Grounds ;  Mr.  Lane,  of  Oregon,  as 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Engrossed  Bills  ;  and  Mr.  Fitch,  of  In- 
diana, as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Printing.  Sir,  these  commit- 
tees would  have  continued  so  by  a  majority  of  four,  and  these  gentle- 
men would  have  occupied  these  several  positions  if  the  southern  Sen- 
ators had  remained  in  their  seats. 

I  ask,  then,  has  any  outrage  ever  been  done  to  these  States  depriv- 
ing them  of  their  privileges  in  controlling  and  administering  your 
Government  ?  They  have  always  held  the  Government  in  their  power. 
Sir,  I  assert  as  a  member  of  the  Democratic  party,  one  \\*ho  has  raised 
his  voice  always  in  support  of  their  principles,  and  who  has  never 
changed  his  views  relative  to  their  institutions,  that  they  have  held  and 
controlled  the  Government  of  the  country,  although  they  have  now 
but  nine  millions  of  people,  and  two4hirds  of  the  population  of  the 
United  States  reside  in  the  free  States.  Why,  sir,  during  the  seventy- 
two  years  of  our  political  existence  under  the  constitution  of  1787, 
they  have  had  control  of  the  Government  for  forty -nine  years  and  three 
months.  They  have  had  eight  southern  Presidents  to  seven  northern 
Presidents.  The  northern  Presidents  have  had  control  of  the  Govern- 
ment but  twenty-two  years  and  nine  months.  For  over  two-thirds  of 
the  time  since  its  formation,  the  Government  has  been  administered  by 
gentlemen  the  direct  representatives  of  those  States. 

But  this  is  not  all.  When  I  come  to  examine  whether,  iii  the  sev- 
eral Departments  outside  of  the  head  of  the  Government,  any  injustice 
has  been  done,  what  do  I  find  upon  the  record  ?  As  regards  the  Sec- 
retary of  State,  you  have  had  ten  northern  Secretaries  and  fourteen 
southern  ;  as  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  fourteen  northern  and 


-9 

nine  southern ;  as  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  fifteen,  northern,  sixteen 
southern ;  as  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  twelve  northern,  thirteen 
southern ;  as  to  the  Postmaster  General,  ten  northern  and  seven  south- 
ern ;  the  Attorney  General,  ten  northern  sixteen  southern :  seventy-five 
of  the  officers  of  your  respective  Cabinets  have  been  citizens  of  the 
South,  and  but  seventy-one  of  the  North.  Taking  from  1841  down  to 
the  present  period,  as  to  the  foreign  appointments,  which  is  a  fair  cri- 
terion— the  most  important  period  of  the  country — I  find  that  to  Eng- 
land there  have  been  five  ministers  from  the  North  and  one  from  the 
South  :  at  the  Court  of  France,  two  from  the  North  and  three  from  the 
South  ;  to  Russia,  two  from  the  North,  and  three  from  tho  South ;  al- 
together, nine  from  the  North  and  seven  from  the  South.  Going  into 
your  Executive  Departments,  during  the  late  Administration,  which 
is  also  a  fair  criterion,  you  find  that  from  'the  northern  States  there 
were  four  hundred  and  fifty- eight  appointments,  and  from  the  southern 
States  four  hundred  and  thirty -six. 

No  injustice,  then,  has  been  done  to  those  gentlemen  in  the  control 
of  your  Government,  and  in  the  administration  of  its  affairs.  Their 
intellect  and  their  genius,  which  I  admire,  and  which  I  am  proud  to 
think  belonged  to  our  country,  have  had  a  far  greater  influence  than 
they  were  entitled  to,  according  to  population,  in  forming  the  institu- 
tions of  the  country.  That,  then,  is  not  the  reason.  Is  it  because  the 
Government  has  not  acted  fairly  towards  them  upon  the  local  institu- 
tion of  slavery?  Why,  sir,  in  1793  they  wanted  a  fugitive  slave  law 
passed,  and  Congress  gave  it  to  them.  In  1820  they  wanted  the  Mis- 
souri compromise,  and  it  was  given  to  them.  In  1850  they  wanted  afi 
amendment  to  the  fugitive  slave  law,  and  it  was  given  to  them.  In 
1854  they  wanted  the  Missouri  compromise  repealed,  and  it  was  done. 
Not  one  act  have  they,  ever  asked  from  this  Government,  or  from  the 
American  people,  except  one,  to  which  I  shall  allude  directly,  but, 
what  has  been  cheerfully  given  ;  and  that,  too,  by  the  support  of  those 
same  Democratic  northern  people  who  now  are  raising  their  arms  and 
their  voices  to  uphold  and  support  the  enforcement  of  the  laws  against 
their  miserable  return  of  deep  ingratitude. 

Is  it  because  the  fugitive  slave  law  was  not  faithfully  executed  ?  If 
BO,  why  did  they  not  break  up  the  Government  when  Mr.  Pierce  was 
elected  President  in  1852  ?  Every  one  knows  that  immediately  after 
the  fugitive  slave  law  was  passed  in  1850,  greater  infractions  of  it 
occurred  than  at  any  former  period ;  because  it  was  a  law  peculiarly 
odious  to  the  northern  people,  inasmuch  as  it  gave  double  fees  to  the 
commissioner  for  returning  the  fugitive  to  what  he  did  if  he  turned 
him  loose.  It  was  more  odious  then  than  at  any  prior  period  ;  so  odi- 
ous that  when  the  late  distinguished  Senator  from  Illinois  went  back 
to  his  constituency  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  immediately  after  its  pas- 
sage, you  all  recollect  what  a  reception  he  met.  In  1852,  the  odium 
still  continued.  It  continued  in  1854  quite  as  great  as,  if  not  greater 
than,  in  1860 ;  and  if  that  was  any  reason  why  ^he  Government  should 
be  broken  up  and  dismembered,  it  should  have  been  done  when  Mr. 
Pierce  or  his  successor  was  elevated  to  the  Presidency.  But,  sir,  in 
1860,  I  heard  the  concurrent  testimony  of  the  Senators  from  Indiana, 
[Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Fitch,]  and  the  Senator  from  Illinois,  (Mr.  Doug- 


10 

las,)  and  Mr.  Pugh  from  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  Mr.  Bigler  from  Penn- 
sylvania, all  of  whom  testified  before  this  body  that  in  the  year  I860, 
no  law  of  your  Government  was  more  faithfully  executed  in  the  North 
than  the  fugitive  slave  law. 

Was  it  the  passage  of  these  personal  liberty  bills  ?  Why,  sir,  some 
of  them  have  been  upon  the  statute  books  so  long  that  they  are  abso- 
lutely obsolete.  The  personal  liberty  bills  of  New  Hampshire  and 
Yermont  that  were  complained  of  so  bitterly,  had  gone  out  of  the 
memory  almost  of  even  the  best  informed  statesmen  of  that  section  of 
country,  really  because — I  believe  I  ani  correct  in  asserting — riot  a 
fugitive  slave  was  ever  arrested  in  either  of  those  States.  Therefore, 
it  could  not  have  been  the  passage  of  those  bills.  Neither  South  Car- 
olina. Alabama,  nor  Georgia,  had  any  right  to  complain,  because  what- 
ever property  was  lost  by  the  passage  of  those  bills — unconstitutional, 
improper,  and  unjust,  as  they  were— came  from  the  States  of  Mary- 
land, Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Virginia,  and  the  border  States,  some  of 
whom — and  I  wish  I  could  say  all — are  even  yet  loyal.  Those  who 
lead  the  van  in  this  rebellion  have  never  been  the  •  sufferers  from  the 
passage  of  any  of  these  laws. 

Is  it  because  they  have  been  deprived  of  the  enjoyment  of  any  of 
the  Territories  of  the  country?  Why,  sir,  Senators  all  recollect  very 
well  that  when  the  resolutions  of  the  Senator  from  Mississippi  (Mr. 
Davis)  passed  this  body  by  an  overwhelming  vote,  and  Mr.  Brown,  of 
Mississippi,  offered  an  amendment,  asserting  that  the  time  had  then 
arrived  when  the  Government  should  exercise  its  duty  in  the  passage 
of  a  law  protecting  the  southern  people  in  their  right  of  slave  pro- 
perty within  the  Territories,  there  were  but  three  members  then  from 
the  South  who  voted  for  it :  Mr.  Mallory  of  Florida,  Mr.  Brown  of 
Mississippi,  and  Mr.  Johnson  of  Arkansas.  The  very  winter  before 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected  to  the  Presidency,  it  was  declared  in  this 
"body,  by  a  vote  of  forty-two  to  three,  that  there  was  no  such  exigency, 
nor  any  necessity  for  Congress. to  pass  any  such  law. 

Did  anything  occur,  I  ask  you,  between  the  adjournment  of  the  first 
session  of  the  last  Congress  and  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  that  had 
changed  the  features  of  the  case  ?  So  far  as  your  territory  was  con- 
cerned, I  allege  that  in  every  foot  of  it  within  which  slavery  could 
exist,  and  within  which  it  could  in  any  respect  be  profitable,  it  did 
exist,  and  was  protected  by  local,  territorial  legislation.  I  refer  to 
New  Mexico,  which  is  not  confined  to  the  line  of  86°  30',  the  old  Mis- 
souri compromise  line,  but  goes  a  half  degree  beyond  it.  By  the 
legislation  of  that  Territory,  slavery,  as  an  institution,  is  protected ; 
and  yet,  after  all,  there  are  but  twelve  domestic  slaves,  and  but  thirty 
in  all,  according  to  the  census  of  1860.  I  assert  still  further,  that  so 
far  from  their  being  deprived  of  any  rights  which  they  might  have 
according  to  the  natural  character  of  these  Territories,  the  only  one 
where  any  man  dreams  slavery  as  an  institution  could  exist,  is  the 
Territory  of  New  Mexico ;  and  there  I  am  satisfied  it  can  never  be 
profitable,  even  though  the  Territorial  Legislature,  Congress,  and  every 
other  legislative  body  throughout  the  whole  country,  would  give  it 
their  sanction  and  protection.  God  Almighty  has  placed  a  barrier 
"between  the  institution  of  slavery,  and  that  Territory.  It  is  an  arid 


11 

soil.  It  is  a  soil  from,  which  none  of  the  productions  for  which  slave 
labor  is  so  admirably  adapted  can  be  forced.  It  is  a  soil  utterly  des- 
titute of  all  the  peculiar  qualities  necessary  for  or  adapted  to  the  cul- 
tivation of  cotton,  rice,  sugar,  or  any  other  production  of  slave  labor. 
I  speak  upon  this  question  knowingly,  having  passed  over  that  Terri- 
tory twice.  Why,  sir.,  as  late  as  the  months  of  August  and  Septem- 
ber, upon  that  high  table  land,  the  nights  were  so  cold,  it  was  with 
the  utmost  difficulty,  in  passing  over,  I  could  preserve  any  degree  of 
comfortable  warmth. 

Then,  Mr.  President,  these  were  none  of  the  reasons.  The  history 
of  the  country  shows  they  had  no  cause  of  complaint  as  to  the  action 
of  the  Government  upon  any  of  the  questions  I  have  cited.  The  only 
cause  ever  attempted  to  be  given  upon  this  floor^  was  apprehension  for 
the  future  ;  that  notwithstanding  they  had  the  control  of  both  branches 
of  Congress  and  an  impartial  Supreme  Court,  and  no  one  law  on  the 
statute-book  prejudicial  to  their  interests,  yet  at  some  future  time, 
from  the  foreshadowed  policy  of  the  dominant  party,  they  feared  their 
institutions  might  be  in  jeopardy.  Now,  sir,  I  assert  that  if  they  had 
remained  on  this  floor,  doing  but  their  duty  to  the  country,  no  act  of 
wrong  by  the  party  in  power  could  ever  have  been  consummated. 
I  allege  further,  that  having  the  control  of  both  branches  of  Congress, 
they  could,  as  the  record  proves,  have  amended  the  Constitution  by  a 
two-thirds  vote,  and,  having  applied  to  the  States  for  a  three-fourths 
vote,  so  ratified  it,  that  neither  Congress  nor  the  Executive  could  in- 
terfere in  any  way  with  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  several  States. 
"Why,  sir,  even  after  they  had  left  this  body,  and  when  we  were  re- 
duced to  barely  thirty -six  members,  there  were  then  twenty -four  on 
this  floor  who  did  vote  for  such  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution. 
It  passed  then  by  two-thirds  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  re- 
quires now  but  the  sanction  of  three-fourths  of  the  States  of  the  Union 
to  make  the  amendment  a  permanent  portion  of  the  Constitution. 

Mr.  President,  being  last  winter  a  careful  eye-witness  of  all  that  oc- 
curred, I  soon  became  satisfied  that  it  was  a  deliberate,  willful  design,, 
on  the  part  of  some  Representatives  of  southern  States,  to  seize  upon 
the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  merely  as  an  excuse  to  precipitate  this  rev- 
olution upon  the  country.  One  evidence  to  my  mind  is  the  fact  that 
South  Carolina  never  sent  her  Senators  here.  An  additional  evidence 
is,  that  when  gentlemen  on  this  floor,  by  their  votes,  could  have  con- 
trolled legislation,  they  refused  to  cast  them,  for  fear  that  the  very 
propositions  submitted  to  this  body  might  have  an  influence  in  chang- 
ing the  opinions  of  their  constituencies.  Why,  sir,  when  the  resolu- 
tions submitted  by  the  Senator  from  New  Hampshire  [Mr.  CLARK] 
were  offered  as  an  amendment  to  the  Crittenden  propositions,  for  the 
manifest  purpose  of  embarrassing  the  latter,  and  the  vote  taken  on  the 
16th  of  January,  1861,  I  ask,  what  did  we  see  ?  There  were  fifty-five 
Senators  at  that  time  upon  this  floor  in  person.  The  Globe  of  the 
second  session  Thirty-Sixth  Congress,  part  one,  page  409,  shows  that 
upon  the  call  of  the  yeas  and  nays  immediately  preceding  the  vote  on 
the  substituting  of  Mr.  CLARK'S  amendment,  there  were  fifty-five  votes 
cast.  I  will  read  the  vote,  from  the  Globe : 


12 

"  YEAS — Messrs.  Anthony,  Baker,  Bingham,  Cameron,  Chandler,  Clark,  Col- 
lamer,  Dixon,  Doolittle,  Durkee,  Fessenden,  Foot,  Foster,  Grimes,  Hale,  Harlan, 
King,  Seward,  Simmons,  Surnner,  Ten  Eyck,  Trumbull,  Wade,  Wilkinson,  and 
Wilson— 25. 

"NAYS — Messrs.  Bayard,  Benjamin,  Bigler,  Bragg,  Bright,  Clingman,  Crittenden, 
Douglas,  Fitch,  Green,  Gwin,  Hemphill,  Hunter,  Iverson.  Johnson  of  Arkansas, 
Johnson  of  Tennessee,  Kennedy,  Lane,  Latham,  Mason,  Nicholson,  Pearce,  Polk, 
Powell,  Pugh,  Rice,  -Saulsbury,  Sebastian,  Slidell,  and  Wigfall— 30." 

The  vote,  being  taken  immediately  after  on  the  Clark  proposition, 
was  as  folio  wa : 

"  YEAS— Messrs.  Anthony,  Baker,  Bingham,  Cameron,  Chandler,  Clark,  Col- 
lamer,  Dixon,  Doolittle,  Durkee,  Fessenden,  Foot,  Foster,  Grimes,  Hale,  Harlan, 
King,  Seward,  Simmons,  Sumner,  Ten  Eyck,  Trumbull,  Wade,  Wilkinson,  and 
Wilson— 25. 

11  NAYS — Messrs.  Bayard,  Bigler,  Bragg,  Bright,  Clingman,  Crittenden,  Fitch, 
Green,  Gwin,  Hunter,  Johnson  of  Tennessee,  Kennedy,  Lane,  Latham,  Mason, 
Nicholson,  Pearce,  Polk,  Powell,  Pugh,  Rice,  Saulsbury,  and  Sebastian — 23. 

Six  Senators  retained  their  seats  and  refused  to  vote,  thus  them- 
selves allowing  the  Clark  proposition  to  supplant  the  Crittenden  reso- 
lution by  the  vote  of  25  to  28.  Mr.  Benjamin  of  Louisiana,  Mr.  Hemp- 
hill  and  Mr.  Wigfall  of  Texas,  Mr.  Iverson  of  Georgia,  Mr.  Johnson 
of  Arkansas,  and  Mr.  Slidell  of  Louisiana,  were  in  their  seats,  but  re- 
fused to  cast  their  votes.  I  recollect  full  well  the  joy  that  pervaded 
the  faces  of  some  of  those  gentlemen  at  the  result,  and  the  sorrow 
manifested  by  the  venerable  Senator  from  Kentucky,  [Mr.  CRITTEK"- 
DEN.]  The  record  shows  that  Mr.  Pugh,  from  Ohio,  despairing  of  any 
compromise  between  the  extremes  of  ultra  Republicanism  and  dis 
unionists,  working  manifestly  for  the  same  end,  moved,  immediately 
after  the  vote  was  announced,  to  lay  the  whole  subject  on  the  table. 
If  you  will  turn  to  page  443,  same  volume,  you  will  find,  when,  at  a 
late  period,  Mr.  Cameron,  from  Pennsylvania,  moved  to  reconsider  the 
vote,  appeals  having  been  made  to  sustain  those  who  were  struggling 
to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  country,  that  the  vote  was  reconsidered  ; 
and  when,  at  last,  the  Crittenden  propositions  were  submitted  on  the 
2d  day  of  March,  these  southern  States  having  nearly  all  seceded,  they 
were  then  lost  by  but  one  vote.  Here  is  the  vote : 

"YEAS — Messrs.  Bayard,  Bigler,  Bright,  Crittenden,  Douglas,  Gwin,  Hunter, 
Johnson  of  Tennessee,  Kennedy,  Lane,  Latham,  Mason,  Nicholson,  Polk,  Pugh, 
Rice,  Sebastian,  Thomson,  and  Wigfall — 19." 

"NAYS— Messrs.  Anthony,  Bingham,  Chandler,  Clark,  Dixon,  Doolittle,  Durkee, 
Fessenden,  Foot,  Foster,  Grimes,  Harlan,  King,  Merrill,  Sumner,  Ten  Eyck,  Trum- 
bull, Wade,  Wilkinson,  and  Wilson— -20." 

If  these  seceding  southern  Senators  had  remained,  there  would  have 
passed,  by  a  large  vote,  (as  it  did  without  them,)  an  amendment  by  a 
two-thirds  vote,  forbidding  Congress  ever  interfering  with  slavery  in 
the  States.  The  Crittenden  proposition  would  have  been  indorsed  by 
a  majority  vote,  the  subject  finally  going  before  the  people,  who  have 
never  yet,  after  consideration,  refused  justice,  for  any  length  of  time, 
to  any  portion  of  the  country. 

I  believe  more,  Mr.  President,  that  these  gentlemen  were  acting  in 
pursuance  of  a  settled  and  fixed  plan  to  break  up  and  destroy  this  Gov- 
ernment. I  believe  also,  there  has  been  a  scheme  of  the  leading 


13 

politicians  of  the  southern  States  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  who 
have  been  constantly  working  with  a  view  to  destroy  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a  government  of  their  own,  the 
corner  stone  of  which  should  be  the  institution  of  slavery,  as  is  alleged 
by  the  present  vice  president  of  the  southern  confederacy,— that  they 
have  never  ceased  working,  year  in  and  year  out,  towards  the  consum- 
mation of  their  purpose.  Why,  sir,  immediately  after  the  election  of 
Mr.  Lincoln,  in  the  month  of  December,  he  whom  I  regard  as  their 
master  spirit  in  this  attempt,  both  from  his  eloquence  and  sagacity, 
published  a  letter  in  which  he  asserts/  that  though  the  people  of  the 
United  States  as  represented  on  this  floor  may  give  them  compromises, 
even  constitutional  compromises,  the  favorable  moment  having  arrived, 
the  South  must  still  declare  its  independence  of  the  United  States  of 
America. 

Eeferring  to  Hon.  William  L.  Yancey,  I  call  the  attention  of  the 
Senate  to  a  communication  of  his,  written  and  published  early  in  the 
month  of  December  of  the  past  year  : 

"  I  hope  that  Georgia  and  Alabama,  the  mother  and  daughter  States,  will  not  be 
found  separate  and  in  opposing  position  in  this  great  struggle  for  State  rights  and 
southern  liberties.  Alabama  will,  most  assuredly  secede  first,  and  make  efforts  at  co- 
operation for  a  southern  confederacy  afterwards.  No  proffered  compromises,  no  amend- 
ments to  the  Constitution,  no  proffered  additional  guarantees,  can  delay  her  action  for 
independence  a  moment.  There  is  no  defect  in  our  fundamental  law;  therefore  it 
needs  no  alteration.  The  great  defect  in  the  Union  is  the  public  conscience  and  educa- 
tion of  the  northern  massts  upon  the  slavery  question,  vrhich  begets  an  irreconcilable 
and  irrepressible  conflict  between  them  and*  that  institution,  and  of  course  between 
them  and  all  constitutional  provisions  which  protect  that  institution.  When  parties 
and  rulers  can  control  such  conscience,  and  eradicate  such  education,  and  can  then 
propose  new  guarantees,  it  might  be  worth  our  while  to  pause  and  consider  them; 
but  not  till  then.  In  the  language  df  my  far  seeing,  deep-thinking,  and  fearless 
friend  Judge  Benning,  there  should  be  but  one  watchword  now  for  all  the  sons  of 
the  South,  and  that  'Ho!  for  independence  I'  " 

This  was  the  pronunciamento  of  the  leading  spirit  of  the  whole 
movement  as  early  as  the  month  of  December  last,  before  even  the 
electoral  college  had  met,  or  the  votes  were  counted,  and  it  was  dis- 
tinctly ascertained  who  was  elected  President  of  the  United  States. 
"Ho!  for  independence"  had  been  the  cry  for  a  quarter  of  a  century 
of  these  conspirators,  who  have  been  seeking,  under  pretext  of  nulli- 
fication, and  now  the  constitutional  right  of  secession,  the  favorable 
moment  and  excuse  to  assert  their  independence  and  array  themselves 
in  hostility  to  the  Government.  This  doctrine  of  secession  is  but  the 
shadow  of  an  excuse.  I  do  not  believe  there  are  many  intelligent  men 
in  the  South  who  sincerely  believe  in  this  new-fangled  doctrine  of  the 
constitutional  right  of  a  State  to  secede  from  the  Union.  I  do  not  be- 
lieve they  can  be  so  lost  to  reason,  so  blind  to  the  objects  of  our  Gov- 
ernment, as  to  assert  that  any  State,  at  option,  may  withdraw  itself 
from  the  Union,  itself  being  the  only  judge  of  the  cause  and  the  neces- 
sity for  such  withdrawal. 

Why,  }tfr.  President,  we  paid  for  Louisiana,  out  of  which,  we  formed 
three  slave  States  and  two  free,  $15,000,000,  and  $8,385,353  in  the 
way  of  interest  upon  that  debt.  We  paid  for  Florida  $5,000,000,  and 
$1,430,000  in  the  way  of  interest  upon  that  debt.  We  paid  $100,- 
000,000  in  the  Seminolc  war  to  protect  the  people  of  Florida  from 


14 

Indian  aggressions.  We  paid  $7,000,000  for  pensions  to  the  widows 
of  soldiers  lost  in  that  war.  We  paid  $5,000,000  to  remove  those 
Indians  from  Florida  to  the  western  frontier.  We  paid  the  sum  of 
$10,000,000  for  the  Texas  boundary  line.  We  paid  $10,000,000  in 
the  way  of  indemnity  to  Texas,  and  $7,500,000  to  her  public  credit- 
ors. We  got  into  a  war  with  Mexico  in  consequence  of  the  acquisi- 
tion of  that  State,  and  that  war  cost  us  $217,175,575  more.  We  paid 
$100,000,000  for  pensions  in  consequence  of  that  war.  We  paid 
$15,000,000  by  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo  for  my  own  State. 
We  paid  $100,^000,000  to  extinguish  the  Indian  title  throughout  the 
extent  of  country  thus  annexed.  In  short,  without  enumerating  all 
the  items,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  for  the  purpose  of  extend- 
ing their  boundary,  the  area  of  their  freedom,  the  'enjoyment  of  their 
institutions,  and  to  carry  out  the  great  purpose  of  their  social,  politi- 
cal, and  commercial  wants,  have  paid  for  the  very  States  leading  this 
rebellion  over  $617,000,000. 

Yet,  sir,  we  are  told  that  for  the  "sake  of  humanity,"  we  must  ac- 
knowledge the  right  of  any  one  State  thinking  itself  aggrieved,  with- 
out regard  to  the  States  that  are  left ;  without  consulting  the  happi- 
ness of  the  millions  of  others  constituting  those  States — to  secede  at 
will ;  acknowledge  their  entire  independence  and  right  to  make  treaties 
offensive  or  defensive  with  the  enemies  of  the  country ;  their  right  to 
form  alliances  with  foreign  Powers,  and  pass  laws  jeopardizing  our 
very  existence  as  a  nation — all  this  under  the  sanction  of  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States ;  that  the  eight  million  people  northwest  of 
the  Ohio  river  are  to  be  shut  off  from  the  use  of  the  Mississippi  river, 
the  natural  outlet  for  pouring  into  the  lap  of  the  civilized  world  their 
commerce ;  that  we  are  to  be  hemmed  in,  curtailed,  and  thrown  back 
in  the  great  expansive  ideas  the  people  of  this  country  have  been 
struggling  for  from  the  very  commencement  of  the  nation ;  and  all 
this,  under  the  plea  that  our  fathers  who  founded  this  Republic  have 
thus  constructed  its  Government  and  institutions. 

Sir,  if  this  is  the  doctrine,  the  sooner  the  people  of  this  country 
know  it,  the  better.  If  this  is  the  principle  by  which  we  are  to  be 
governed,  then,  instead  of  singing  triumphant  peans,  instead  of  laud- 
ing the  memory  of  the  great  and  the  good  who  have  laid  broad  and 
deep  and  wide  our  foundations,  we  should  execrate  their  memory  as 
giving  us,  instead  of  a  vital  Government,  a  rattling,  useless  skeleton. 
If  it  is  so,  the  people  now  standing  by  to  support  with  arms  and  means 
desire  to  know  it.  They  wish  the  trial  to  be  made  in  the  face  of  the 
civilized  world.  They  have  intelligence  enough  still  left  never  to 
suffer  a  military  despotism ;  never  to  allow  the  seizure  of  their  politi- 
cal rights  and  guarantees ;  but,  appreciating  their  destiny,  they  will 
make  a  government  strong  enough  and  powerful  enough  to  conduct  us 
in  our  onward  career  until  we  shall  be  as  Home,  \vlieu  her  imperial 
eagles  hovered  around  the  pillars  of  Hercules. 

Senators,  no  one  of  our  number  can  foresee  the  ond  of  this  long  and 
fearful  controversy.  The  constituency  I  represent  desire,  above  all 
things,  peace,  peace.  They  demand  it,  if  it  can  be  had  without  the 
surrendering  of  the  very  cardinal  principles  of  our  Government ;  with- 
out the*  surrendering  of  one  acre  of  its  soil ; .  withon-.  thrs  slightest  mar- 


15 

ring  of  our  country's  fair  proportions.  They  are  willing  to  give  what- 
ever the  southern  people  may  require  as  sufficient  to  guaranty  and 
secure  them  in.  the  enjoyment  of  their  propert)- ;  but  they  are  not 
willing  to  see  this  Government  dismembered  and  broken  up,  and  a  line 
of  fortifications  separating  your  northern  from  your  southern  confed- 
eracy. They  are  unwilling"  to  see  the  eight  million  people  residing  in 
the  Northwest  shut  off  from  the  natural  outlet  of  their  commerce. 
They  are  unwilling,  even,  to  see  the  property  of  the  southern  people 
themselves  destroyed,  as  it  will  inevitably  be  whenever  you  recognize 
their  independence. 

I  desire  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Senate  for  one  moment,  before  I 
close,  to  a  fact  the  census  of  1860  discloses  as  to  the  institution  of 
slavery  in  the  southern  States.  By  the  census  of  1860.  the  population 
of  the  South  is  9,000,000  white  and  4,000,000  slaves.  Seven  million 
and  a  half  of  the  white  population  of  the  South  have  no  interest  what- 
ever in  slavery.  The  same  relative  proportion  exists  between  the 
showing  of  the  census  of  18'50  and  1860.  Not  having  the  exact  fig- 
ures for  1860,  I  refer  to  the  census  of  1850,  which  shows  that  out  of 
a  population  of  6,000,000,  which  the  southern  States  then  had,  the 
number  of  slaveholders  was  but  847,555,  as  the  heads  of  families,  re 
presenting  1,500,000  people ;  and  the  number  of  slaves  at  that  time 
over  3,000,000.  Of  the  number  of  slaveholders,  68,820  had  but  one 
slave  each;  105,688  had  under  five  slaves  each ;  174,608  owners  of 
slaves  held  but  385,869  ;  while  173,022  persons  held  the  rest  of  the 
slaves,  amounting  to  2,818,444. 

Now,  sir,  I  assert,  and  future  history  will  show  how  true  it  is,  that 
whenever  you  bring  the  line  of  Canada  down  to  Mason  anid  Dixon's ; 
whenever  by  necessity  (if  it  should  so  happen)  our  Government  is 
broken  up,  and  two  confederacies  are  formed ;  whenever  it  shall  be  a 
recognized  principle,  as  it  will  be,  that  the  moment  that  a^slave  touches 
the  soil  of  the  ''northern  confederacy,"  he  is  free  ;  when,  sirs,  you  have 
given  unbridled  license  to  sectional  fanaticism  in  permitting  John 
Brown  raids,  followed  by  retaliatory  outrages  of  clipping  of  ears, 
shaving  of  heads,  and  tarring  and  feathering  citizens ;  }'ou  will,  from 
that  very  moment,  have  doomed  the  institution  of  slavery.  Our  south- 
ern people,  who  have  now  raised  themselves  in  rebellion  to  your  Gov- 
ernment, will  then  see  they  have  committed  the  great  folly  of  their 
lives.  The  people  of  these  United  States  desire  no  such  results.  They 
desire  its  territories  to  remain  intact.  They  desire  the  people  to  live 
in  happiness,  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  property,  and  in  the  full  pos- 
session of  all  the  civil  and  religious  liberties  tt;hieh  it  has  been  our 
pride  heretofore  to  possess. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  detained  the  Senate  already  too  long,  I  repeat, 
and  conclude  as  I  have  commenced,  by  saying  that  while  I  have  a  seat 
upon  this  floor,  representing  a  State  upon  the  far-off  Pacific,  I  shall 
support  the  constituted  authorities  in  upholding  the  laws,  supporting 
the  Government,  and  securing  obedience  to  its  behests,  in  the  constant 
and  fervent  hope  that,  with  as  little  bloodshed  as  possible,  with  as  little 
force  as  possible,  these  people  may  leturn  to  their  allegiance  and  their 
duty  to  our  Government.  It  is  a  dark  page  that  is  now  spread  before 
our  vision.  No  man  can  see  what  will  be  written  upon  it.  It  may  be 


16 

God's  will  that  star  after  star  shall  shoot  crazily,  and  be  blotted  from 
its  sphere  in  our  political  firmament ;  it  may  be  His  purpose  that  col- 
umn after  column  now  sustaining  our  political  temple,  shall  fall  and 
crumble  in  the  dust;  and  that  ruin,  confusion,  destruction  and  decay, 
shall  prevail  in  this  once  happy  scene.  Be  it  so ;  be  it  so.  Let  me  be 
glad  in  the  thought  that  whenever  a  future  Marius  shall  wander  amid 
the  ruins  of  our  Carthage,  he  will*  find  one  column  at  least  standing 
erect — beautiful  in  all  its  proportions — cloud-capped  its  summit — bear- 
ing inscribed  upon  it  in  imperishable  letters,  the  name  of  my  own  be- 
loved State ;  evidence  of  its  truth  and  fixed  determination  to  uphold 
the  Constitution  and  the  Union  of  our  fathers  in  the  very  face  of  time. 
[Applause  in  the  galleries.] 


STEAM   JOB    PRESS, 
Washington,  D.   C. 


